The Voyage Home is the third book in a series about women in the time of the Trojan War by Pat Barker. I thoroughly enjoyed the first book and while I wasn’t as fond of the second, I still enjoyed reading it. I’ve been anticipating this book and generally enjoyed it (though the first book is still a clear favourite for me)
I remember when I read Women of Troy and thought that the way Cassandra was characterised was so interesting. Like she was playing at being mad and actually quite a great manipulator. I was excited to read from her perspective and found I liked the balance between the madness of her condition of prophecy, the accrue awareness of the people around her and the dark acceptance of her own fate contrasting against the deep hope of survival. I thought Cassandra using her ‘daddy’s girl’ voice on Agamemnon was an interesting touch and demonstrated her ability to work the people (especially men) around her. It was nicely contrasted with Ritsa’s observations of her. With all this being said, I think I would have liked more. Of Cassandra’s thoughts and feelings in particular.
There have been an influx of Clytemnestra retellings in recent years, but I always get excited when I see her name. And she was magnificent, a clever, terrifying force with (incredibly justified) rage. I found myself enjoying her perspective the most.
There were times that the immersion broke for me and I felt the story lacked authenticity, like the use of words like ‘skedaddled’. Additionally, it had more references to urine than I thought was necessary. While I loved the change in protagonist (with a multi point of view mode of story telling) there was no label indicating who was speaking, sometimes I needed to read and reread a page and a half to figure out who the protagonist was. This book is dark, given the historical backdrop against the Trojan War and its aftermath. The treatment and experiences of women has been a main feature of these books and The Voyage Home is no different. Sexual violence occurs frequently and I encourage audiences to be aware of this going in.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher, Penguin for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review. These thoughts are all my own.
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